Chapter 377

Ben told himself as he pulled out his personal job crystal when he got to the shop, before destroying the enchantment on it, leaving him with nothing but a plain rainbow mana crystal in its place.He’d made himself the job crystal what felt like ages ago, and in a way it was. He’d been a level six enchanter when he’d first had the idea to make something so small for his personal use, but now he was at the second level of his divine enchanting, letting him work his magic with an incomparable level of skill to what it had been in the past.

And it was with that thought that he began running his mana through the sphere, letting him pull off a piece no bigger than a marble, round it out, and begin enchanting on it.

He was trying to recreate the same complex enchantment that had been on it only moments before, but to do it on something so much smaller took an even greater level of skill, though still a level he had to spare as the delicate points of mana went down easily, condensed far beyond what they’d ever normally be, yet still perfectly functional for what it needed to do until he had it done. The smallest job crystal he’d ever made, possibly the smallest anyone had ever made, and it was finished as he rolled it around between his fingers.

With it completed he repeated the process, making three more before he was done, each of them functional and the exact size he needed them, only for him to end up distracted by a single thought in the midst of his admiration for his own work.

He had no reason to try, the current size was perfect with the idea he had for them, but then he couldn’t help but see how far he could push it as he tried again, pinching off smaller and smaller pieces until he failed at making something just slightly larger than a pea.

“Ah, too bad,” He muttered. “If I could have gone smaller I might have been able to comfortably do rings instead of necklaces. Maybe I’ll change it out in the future.”

Still, it was a fun little attempt as he broke the enchantments on everything he didn’t need, recombining the smaller crystals with the original to keep from losing anything as he focused back on the original four for what needed to come next as he moved to the storage room, looking for a few different materials that would compliment the look of the crystal, as well as who they were going to.

To begin, he used a small piece of a black stone, shaping it with his magic to wrap around the tiny job crystal, not coating it as its future owner would need to be able to properly touch it to take advantage of its effects, but still covering enough that there was no threat of it slipping off before he added a nub at the top, using a strong piece of string to slip through it to create something that could be conveniently worn, meaning the user wouldn’t need to go find one to use after completing whatever job they had.

From there he used the red stone for Sonya, trying to make the casing a little more aesthetic for it compared to the one for his teacher before he had it done, after taking the time to make a real chain to hold it rather than a piece of string and adding some finer details to improve the look of it, working under the assumption that she’d like it more than Falk would and leading to that little difference in effort.

Finally it came down to the last two, where he used the last blue stone for both, the one for Thera getting a far more detailed pattern as he tried to create a delicate design of birds and flowers on it, while his own he left plain, caring more about the function than the form, with his task finally done.

“...Shut up.”

“Well first, I didn’t even say anything, and second, that’s really no way to be talking to your teacher, boy,” Falk said from behind him as Ben turned around.

“Sorry, not you Falk, I was talking to Myriad.”

“...That’s not exactly better, but alright. So what exactly were you working on so intently?”

There was curiosity in the yeti’s eyes as he looked at what Ben had been so focused on, a desire to know what had been made that Ben was happy to fulfill.

“I’m glad you asked! Personal job crystals, I’ve got one for you, Sonya, and Thera too. I figured since we’ll be near a battle where any kills will give some job experience regardless, all of you should be able to change yours on the fly to reap the benefits.”

Falk’s eyes couldn’t help but widen with surprise. He knew the boy had enchanted something on the crystals he’d been working on, but he’d have never guessed it would be something like that. He hadn’t even been sure a job crystal could be that small until that very moment.

“Well, that’s real thoughtful of you boy so I’m not going to decline. Thank you,” He said, holding out his hand to take it as Ben shook his head.

“Sorry, I can’t actually give it to you till tomorrow, I have to be on the safe side here.”

His teacher shot him what could only be a questioning look, leading him to continue. “I’m trying to complete a quest I’ve had for a while and I just don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize it.”

“Fair enough, I’ll look forward to it then.”

With that done and no other pressing work, Ben moved on to his next task of the day for his goal of completing his quest and finally bringing an end to the job he’d been stuck on. He was going to make a circlet.

He’d made plenty in the past, in fact the shop housed a few of them that people would come in to occasionally try on as a dare from others and fight off the urge to vomit from the effects of the mind skills he had tied to them, with the few that sold ended up being used for pranks rather than their incredible practical applications of giving the wearer extra minds at their disposal, but the one he was going to make now would be better than any other as he got to work.

Beginning with the materials, its design was going to be heavily made with both Mythril and rainbow mana crystals, the gems being front and center to not only let the tool power itself, but to act as decorations as he used his magics to blend and shape everything, both material user and destruction playing a part in bringing the design to fruition as he held it, the size being perfect as it sparkled in the light with the subtle artistic flourishes he added shining through.

From there, it became a matter of enchanting the item to have the common mind effects he’d add to such tools, with almost all of them being found within his own status.

He’d thought long and hard about exactly how to design it, wanting it to lack the same sickening feeling that the others seemed to carry so he was selective in how each skill was used. Mental expansion went down completely, its effects seeming less obviously harmful, while parallel thought was weakened, not being at the point where the wearer would have to feel their minds split like he had, instead providing just a little extra mental power.

It was complex mind that was held back most of all. Despite being a skill that provided two new strands of thought with each level, he was forcing it to only give one in this case, not getting close to his skill’s full potential but needing to hold back more that he wanted since it was than skill in particular that seemed to disorient people the post.

Finally came the main addition that he didn’t have access to, time magic. The effect of the spell was small but simple in its case, it would act to speed up the thoughts of the wearer, and it was with that it was complete, as perfect as it could be. While it wouldn’t be as powerful as he knew he could make it, it had something else going for it, the comfort of the one who’d use it.

It was still very early in the day, and with him not meeting up with Thera till the evening he didn’t have any other pressing tasks, so instead he focused on training and shop work, squeezing out every bit of experience he could in the meantime.